Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	66.01
Liaison	Lissette Hernandez
Submission Date	July 1, 2024

STARS v2.2

Florida International University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

3.38 / 4.00

Lissette Hernandez
Director
Parking and Transportation

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Level of ”Physical Risk Quantity” for the institution’s main campus as indicated by the World Resources Institute Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas:

Low to Medium

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

Total water withdrawal (potable and non-potable combined):

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	288,230,921 Gallons	369,170,304 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	193,230,921 Gallons	242,805,688 Gallons

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2021	June 30, 2022
Baseline Period	July 1, 2014	June 30, 2015

If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:

A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:

Reliable data for area of vegetated grounds was only available for 2018. Fiscal year 2014-2015 was chosen for its proximity to 2018.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	3,700	3,195
Number of employees resident on-site	0	7
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	33,941	30,411
Full-time equivalent of employees	6,448	5,914
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	7,236	7,220
Weighted campus users	25,789.75	22,629.25

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	7,492.55 Gallons	10,729.73 Gallons

Percentage reduction in potable water use per weighted campus user from baseline:

30.17

Part 2. Reduction in potable water use per unit of floor area

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	10,263,364 Gross square feet	9,774,810 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	18.83 Gallons per square foot	24.84 Gallons per square foot

Percentage reduction in potable water use per unit of floor area from baseline:

24.21

Part 3. Reduction in total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	296.77 Acres	296.77 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	971,226.61 Gallons per acre	1,243,960.99 Gallons per acre

Percentage reduction in total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds from baseline:

21.92

Optional Fields

A brief description of the institution's water-related behavior change initiatives:

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A brief description of the institution's water recovery and reuse initiatives:

Retention ponds capture rainwater and run-off that is used for irrigation on the Modesto A. Maidique Campus. At the Biscayne Bay Campus, treated graywater is used to irrigate the grounds.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace plumbing fixtures, fittings, appliances, equipment, and systems with water-efficient alternatives:

FIU is upgrading the irrigation systems to the Rainbird IQ4 which has advanced water management capabilities. It allows the university to maintain the irrigation systems according to desired sustainable practices. Although still in the initial stage of development and training, the new system is already lowering water usage. In addition, FIU Facilities is converting restroom faucets to models that use timers to limit water flow and has converted urinals to ultra-low water use models.

Website URL where information about the institution’s water conservation and efficiency efforts is available:

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Additional documentation to support the submission:

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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

As mentioned above, reliable data for area of vegetated grounds was only available for 2018. The breakdown per campus is as follows: Modesto Maidique Campus 174 acres; Biscayne Bay Campus 99.77 acres; Engineering Center 23 acres. Since the difference in the amount of building square footage was less than 10% in the performance and baseline years compared to 2018, no estimated adjustments were made to vegatated grounds acreage.